Defeat and Victory
by RestlessRenegade
Summary: The Spirit Detective team has never lost an important battle-until now. When they find themselves stripped of their memories and thrown into a case they couldn't win the first time, the team struggles to overcome their fears and survive.
1. Chapter 1

Began: August 2008

Hello! This is a fanfiction that came about in a relatively unique way from most of my other ones; basically, I wrote the most gruesome part of the fic first, intending that to be the first chapter. I was going to build from there. But, I got stuck on the second chapter, and then I overhauled the entire thing. Now, the storyline is essentially the same, but the order of events is quite different. Anyway, due to the rating restrictions on this site, I've had to edit this story severely. If you would like to read it in all its glory, please use the link on my profile. Enjoy!

**Defeat and Victory**

**Part I: When We Were Kings**

Things were not normal in the life of the Spirit Detective and his friends. Kurama was the first one to mention it, but the others came to the same consensus; things were strange. For starters, there was the fact that they had not been on a mission in quite some time. That in and of itself was just plain weird; Koenma made a point of sending them out to do the stupidest stuff whenever he could. Recently, though, he had almost been avoiding them, refusing to meet them at all. Kurama could pinpoint almost the exact day that things had changed; the day that his mother mentioned him giving her an excuse for being missing for several days. This by itself was not the strange part—he often had to make up excuses for his absence during the middle of the working week because of the missions that he went on with Yusuke (until they had abruptly stopped, of course.)

The odd part was that Kurama remembered neither giving this excuse nor going on a mission the week that his mother specified. Initially, he had believed that he was confusing the date, or that she might have been. After all, that had been at least a few weeks ago, and he was distracted by schoolwork and she by her job. However, when she pursued the notion, Kurama began to think that perhaps he had missed something.

"Kuwabara. Kuwabara, wake up," Keiko said, poking the boy in the ribs as he lay sleeping on his desk. The teacher eyed them with a frown and turned back to the board where he was teaching the quadratic equation.

"Now then. Negative B, plus or minus the square root of—"

"Kuwabara!" Keiko hissed, and that snapped him out of it. He sat up, yawning quietly, and rubbed his eyes. This was perhaps the third or fifth time that he had fallen asleep in school this week; he had lost track. Keiko frowned, and when the bell rang, she stood up slowly.

"Are you feeling all right, Kuwabara?" she asked. It was much like Yusuke to sleep in class (when he bothered to show up,) but Kuwabara was usually a decent student if not distracted. Recently they hadn't gone off to do anything dangerous—could he be bored of normal life?

"Yeah, I'm just really tired." The tall boy yawned yet again, proving his point. They began to leave the classroom under the watchful eye of the teacher, and set off down the hall together.

"Are you not getting enough sleep?" Keiko asked as they turned down a new hallway.

"I'm not getting any sleep at all," he admitted, to her surprise.

"Why not? I thought you and Yusuke weren't busy at all these days," she said, wondering if Yusuke was lying to her again. The thought was enough to make her heart sink.

"I keep having these nightmares . . . it feels like someone is trying to tell me something, but I don't know what," he said quietly, his thoughts introspective and curious. Keiko had not known Kuwabara to be so upset by nightmares unless they involved a ghost of some sort.

"Have you talked to someone about them? Maybe Kurama would know what's going on," she suggested, waving goodbye not long after as she went into the girl's bathroom. Kuwabara decided that she had a point.

When Kuwabara came to him, Kurama asked him to describe the dreams in vivid detail, as best he could. The boy's face screwed up as he tried to remember every bit of them. "It's all flashes of images, so it's hard to remember exactly what I saw."

"What is the overall impression that you get from these dreams?" Kurama pushed. It could very well be that whatever was haunting Kuwabara's sleep had something to do with Kurama's own troubles. He had not yet discussed them with the other team members, but presumably, they all felt some sort of discord, as well.

"Fear," Kuwabara said at once, "and anger. Mostly fear, though. If I had to describe it, I'd say that it feels like . . . red," he finished lamely. Kurama peered at him somberly as they sat on cushions in Kuwabara's bedroom. Shizuru was home, but probably not paying them any mind. Luckily, they had found a place to talk in private; Kurama was not sure that anyone else should overhear these thoughts.

"Red," Kurama repeated slowly. It meant absolutely nothing to him, and he had no idea what it might have to do with the dreams. "Describe what you see."

"Well, I see red," Kuwabara began. He paused, and then pushed on. "It's hard to describe. There's a black hole in it, though—I remember that. It's like a dark abyss, and I think it leads to Hell."

"Is it a trench, or the mouth of a cave?" Kurama asked. Kuwabara frowned, his eyes on the floor.

"Neither . . . but it's more like a trench, I think. I also see . . ." his eyes closed very tightly, ". . . a-a girl. She's not wearing any clothes, but she's s-scre . . ." Kuwabara began to struggle, his throat bobbing up and down as he swallowed. Kurama placed a soft hand on his shoulder, bringing him back. "Sorry," he said weakly. "It's so powerful . . . the fear is like a blanket."

"No need to apologize," Kurama said, his own heart beating quickly. Kuwabara's empathetic powers made for an intense amount of emotion; he felt what others felt, even when the situation did not call for it. Sometimes he needed to be brought back—always gently, and with a smile.

"The girl is screaming," Kuwabara said, now keeping his eyes open. When he closed them, it was too easy to see it all again. "The only other thing I see is black hair—long black hair that kind of hangs from the sky. And then it fades to red before that gaping hole, and then . . ."

"You wake up," Kurama finished. Kuwabara nodded, and his friend could faintly see beads of sweat on the boy's face. This was tearing him up; whatever spirit had come to him in the night (for Kurama knew without a doubt that it was a spirit haunting him—no mere nightmare could bring such a reaction) had undergone such a tragic event that even Kuwabara could not handle it. "Is there anything else?"

"Guilt," Kuwabara said, with an air of finality. "There's always guilt when I wake up."

"Guilt?" Kurama asked, his interest piqued. _That _was something he had not foreseen. "Can you tell why you might feel that?"

"No, but I know that it's my own emotion. I can't help but feel the same way the spirits do, but the guilt is not from the spirit. It's mine," he said slowly. Kurama rubbed his chin.

"How can you tell this?"

"Feelings are different when they come from ghosts. I don't have a context for them, so they usually don't make sense, even if I don't understand why they don't. This guilt, though . . . it makes sense to me, even if I don't know why."

"I see," said Kurama, though he really didn't. "I think it's time we talked with Koenma."

The ogre received a stamp to the forehead for his trouble. He immediately ran off to wash off the ink, which was semi-permanent and would make him the laughing stock of the office if it stayed. Koenma, meanwhile, left the stamp where it sat and knocked a stack of papers off his desk, just for the sake of it. Then he screamed for Botan.

"Koenma, sir?"

"DON'T 'SIR' ME! Yusuke is coming!"

Botan, for all of her grace, was flabbergasted. "Yes, I know he is, sir . . . I'm going to pick him up any moment."

"YOU CAN'T BRING HIM HERE!"

"Koenma sir, you're going to have to deal with this sooner or later," she said wisely, picking up stacks of the white paper and setting them back on his desk. He watched her, seething, his tiny fists clenched as hard as he could.

"I WILL NOT DEAL WITH IT!" he screamed, and flung himself on the desk. He pounded it with his hands and feet, kicking and screaming and rolling around and generally making a giant fuss. Botan watched him for a few seconds before slamming her own hands down on the desk, waking him out of his fit.

"Koenma, you cannot afford to act like a child! I am bringing Yusuke here in ten minutes whether you pull yourself together or not!" she said, and huffed off. He peeked up from his sprawling position on the desk before sliding off onto his chair again.

"She's right, ogre," he said solemnly as Jorge moved to finish picking up the papers. "Izanami's ghost is missing, Kurama is bound to start realizing what happened any day now, and we've still got a rogue demon on our hands," he said, moving the stacks of paper so that he would be able to look at Yusuke when he arrived.

"How long do you think you'll be able to keep this ploy working, sir?" Jorge asked, more for something to say than for the answer.

"Not long, ogre. Not long." He was afraid of that.

Yusuke arrived just after eleven, with his good friends in tow. Koenma had expected no less, but it did not make things any easier. In fact, he would much have preferred not to have Hiei present, at the least. The fire demon already looked murderous as they traipsed in through the door; apparently, he either knew what was going on or had guessed. "I'm glad the five of you are here," Koenma said after Botan left and closed the door. Yusuke looked around, counting heads. He knew little of why they were there; sure, things had seemed a little off, but he had chalked that up to a lack of action.

"There's only four of us," he said slowly, frowning at Koenma as though he was mentally unstable. Koenma gestured to Kuwabara.

"No, Yusuke. There are five. Iza?"

"Yes, sir," Kuwabara said. They looked over at him to see him with a very confused look on his face and his mouth pressed together.

"You may come out now," Koenma said, and a change came over Kuwabara. He tightened every muscle in his body before relaxing, and a small, silvery spirit came from him. It floated, barely visible, to Koenma, who touched it gently. The spirit materialized—sort of. It began to look like a person in shape and form, but it lacked color, and any real substance.

"This is Mikoto Izanami, Iza for short. You four have met her before," Koenma said, as the spirit bowed. They saw now that it was a girl; wearing a school uniform, she looked to be only slightly younger than they were. Luckily, she wore none of the scars that she had received upon death.

"We have?" Yusuke asked, puzzled. Kuwabara's jaw dropped when he finally got a good look at her.

"That's the girl from my dream!" he said, finally coming to the realization. She would have blushed if she had had a body.

"I'm sorry I had to invade your consciousness, Kuwabara," she said, bowing to him again. He looked at her for several minutes, his mind making connections that he had been looking for. Kurama envied him.

"An explanation, Koenma?" he asked, though this sounded almost the opposite of a question. The baby paled, reeling back in his chair as though he had been struck.

"I . . . you see . . ."

"May I tell the story, sir?" Iza offered, her voice coming through loud though she had no vocal chords or throat or tongue. Koenma gave her a long, long look. After some internal deliberation, he nodded to her.

"It began a few weeks ago, just after school . . ."


	2. Chapter 2

This and the next chapter were fairly influenced by Stephen King's writing style, but not one piece of writing specifically. "Izanami" comes from Japanese mythology; she was the creator goddess who died giving birth to the fire god. Originally, Iza was not an original character, but the reader. I changed it because it turned out that her story was only part of the fic after all, and now I'm glad I did it.

**Defeat and Victory**

**Part II: The Fallen Goddess**

_Izanami was, it finally occurred to her, completely free for a whole evening. With her older brother hundreds of miles away in a dorm room, probably still sleeping, and with her parents out for the next twelve or so hours at a business dinner and after party, she literally had the house to herself until her parents came home in the early morning. They were business people, not really family-oriented, and they often had to go out on business. Until this August her older brother, who had very recently gone off to a university and left her home alone, had cared for her. It wasn't so bad, she thought, and because she was a teenager, she was allowed to stay by herself. Sometimes she was lonely, but she had many hobbies to keep her preoccupied. And nothing eventful had ever happened when she was home alone, so she didn't expect that today would be any different.__ At this point in time, she was walking up to her house, which was about a hundred feet from the main road, which led out of town and into the countryside. Iza technically still lived in the city's limits, but there was an expanse of empty land all around her house, enough for her to say that she lived in the country. Either way, it was not a long walk from her school, and she enjoyed being outside. She entered the house, which was a two-story farmhouse with three bedrooms, one now vacant, and threw her backpack aside lazily after kicking off her shoes. _

_Immediately she tugged at the tie around her neck, which her school annoyingly required her to wear. After making a small sandwich, she went to her room and unbuttoned her shirt a few buttons, just enough so she wasn't choking. She kicked off her socks and rolled up her sleeves, and then checked her email. She put off doing her homework until around four, when she finally decided that even though it was the weekend, she should get it done, so she went into the hall to get her backpack. As she leaned down to grab the strap, the doorbell rang. _Saved by the bell, _she thought, and then rolled her eyes at the cliché. She assumed that it was a lost tourist or one of her parent's business partners or even the mailman coming to deliver a package, so she threw open the door, her eyes taking in a strange sight. On her doorstep were four teenage boys she had never seen before. Thinking they were lost, she said, "Can I help you?" The one in front, a boy slightly taller than her with gelled black hair, big brown eyes, and a green school uniform, grinned wryly. _

_She felt her stomach roll over a bit both from nerves and from something she couldn't place as he said, "You're Mikoto Izanami, right? We have to talk to you." Raising an eyebrow, her eyes fell over the other three—a very tall boy in a blue school uniform, probably from Sariashky, a school that rivaled her own, who had orange hair and kind dark eyes. A medium-sized boy with unique long red locks and smart green eyes who wore a red school uniform that she identified from Meoui. And the last, a rather short guy who wore a heavy black cloak and who had very spiky black hair and large, guarded red eyes. A strange bunch._

_"Who are you? What do you want?" She wasn't usually so blunt, but it had suddenly occurred to her that she was alone and she didn't know them. They looked harmless enough, but of course, one can never be so sure. The one in red spoke now, his voice calm and comforting, but hiding something Iza recognized instantly as a brilliant and cunning—and possibly cruel—mindset. _Be careful with him,_ she thought warily. _

_"We're Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Shuichi Minamino, and Hiei. I don't mean to alarm you, but you are in danger. May we come in?" They stepped forward, and, recognizing the first two names as ones of bullies around the Sariashky part of town, her eyes narrowed. She stood in the doorway, blocking them. _

_"Urameshi? Kuwabara? You're delinquents, aren't you? I don't know . . ." _

_Her eyes devoured them, trying to decipher whether they ought to be believed or trusted at all. Realizing that she would never be able to gauge their trustworthiness on appearance only, she looked to the red one, who was supposedly named Minamino. "How can I trust you?" she asked, knowing that she could be walking into a trap. What did they mean, she was in danger? She was just some kid, how could she be in danger?_

_Kurama—of course it was he—for all his smarts, was finding it very difficult to answer her question. They had never done this sort of thing before, and while he knew enough about her to convince her that he was in the right place, it also might just make her think that they were stalkers or something similar and she might close the door, leaving their mission unfulfilled. Obviously, this was not an option, and he had an idea that one of his friends might break down the house in annoyance if it came to it. Of course, they didn't desire this, so he tried to answer her the best he could. "We are friends, Izanami. You are currently in danger, and we can help." Not convinced, she crossed her arms, tossing a head full of long black hair. _

_"How am I in danger, and how do you know?"_

_The one in green—Yusuke, the one in red had said—stepped forward so that their faces were only a foot or so apart. She stood her ground. "If I said that there are such things as demons, that they exist, what would she say?" She frowned at him, her brow creasing above brown eyes not unlike his own. Like most children, she had heard of demons before—superhuman creatures with different abilities that lived in another realm and ate humans who strayed there. _

_Like most children, at a certain age she had decided that they weren't real. "I'd ask for proof and why that has to do with she and with me being in danger," she said ambiguously. Not an invitation, but not a decline. Clever. _

_"What if I said that I can show you solid proof, but only inside? Once you believe that demons are real, the rest will come easily." Yusuke's eyes searched her own. He was quite annoyed, to tell the truth. It was not often that he had to deal with civilians, and she was proving to be very troublesome. Her eyes flickered once around them, and she thought faintly that this was insane, but she stepped aside and let them in. The phone wasn't far and neither was the kitchen, where there was at least one set of knives. Besides, this was her turf. She had the upper hand. _

_"Prove it to me, then," she said when everyone had gathered in the entrance hall. _

_"Open this window," he said, and motioned to the window in the living room which led to the backyard, which was really just an expanse of empty field. She sighed, and then did so, stepping aside. He pointed out the window with his index finger, which suddenly began to glow blue. A burst of blue light flew from his finger, out the window and into the sky, eventually disappearing and leaving no trace that it had ever existed. She were utterly surprised, but still not completely convinced of their authenticity. _

_"That could have been a trick . . ." she mumbled, and saw that the one in red, Minamino, had pulled a rose from his hair, of all places. He smiled softly (for some reason, she still didn't trust that smile—it was probably because he was so intelligent) and swung his arm, the rose transforming into a long vine with many thorns, which he brandished like a whip. She finally gave in. _

_"Whoa . . . are you all demons?" she asked, eyeing them. If so, her chances of dying today had just significantly increased. Kuwabara, the tallest one, shook his head while grinning. _

_"I'm human, just like you," he said, and she looked at him suspiciously before tilting her head slightly down. At least she weren't alone, then, unless it was a trick to give her false hope. Either way, it was too late now._

_"Are you the kind of demons who eat humans?" she blurted, unable to ask in a more subtle way. Iza realized that she were suddenly quite fearful of them. _

_"No, we're not," answered Urameshi, after closing the window. _

_"Then why are you here? Why reveal yourselves to me? And am I still in danger, and of what?" Minamino looked around a bit, and then gestured to the living room. _

_"May we sit in here and talk?" h__e asked her quietly. She nodded, and the five of she walked a few steps into the living room. She all sat down on cushions that she had spread around the room but the shortest, Hiei, who stood at the window with his arms folded. She watched him for a moment, and felt a strange emotion come over her. Not quite fear or revulsion, she settled it somewhere around suspicion. He was not a person to be trifled with. _

_"We are not demons who eat humans, but there are those who do. You know about the recent disappearances going on in this part of Japan?" She nodded. Of course she knew. Who didn't? It was all over the news. Seven teenage girls had disappeared in the last seven months. At first it was assumed they had ran away, but as a pattern emerged—one teen missing every month, always last seen on the tenth of that month—and more and more girls disappeared, the police were beginning to suspect something more horrific. _

_"The victims were killed by a demon who has escaped into the Human World. Demons normally live in their own realm, which is cut off from ours, the Human Plane, but sometimes . . ." _

_"Sometimes they get through," she finished. It was all in the storybooks, even the Spirit Detec—she smiled. "Let me guess. You're the Spirit Detectives? I've heard of you. Well, actually I've heard of your job, never you four personally. You work for Spirit World?" she asked. _

_Minamino seemed impressed that she knew so much. "Yes, we work for Koenma, Prince of Spirit World. A dangerous demon has escaped in the human world, and he has been devouring the teenage girls here recently." The bomb dropped. Those girls were eaten—_eaten!—_by a monster, who was supposedly in the same species as three of her guests. _

Sick, _she thought. "How did this one get through the barrier?" she asked. _

_Yusuke shrugged._ _"We don't know yet. All we know is that normally we would just capture or kill him, but this demon is_ very_powerful. He's one of the most powerful demons to come into the human world of all time." _

_Somehow, she guessed that they had much more that they needed to say, that there would not be good news for her somewhere in it, but to distract herself she asked, "Are you fighters?"_

_Yusuke and Kuwabara grinned. "Only the best! We've beaten demons that were five times as powerful as us." Minamino's eyes went from her to Yusuke and back to her, darkening as they did so._ Here comes the "but," _she thought._

_"However," Minamino began, causing the other two to be quiet and suddenly sullen, "this demon is much more powerful than any we've ever fought. Yusuke is right that we have beaten demons who were two times as powerful as us, but this demon is . . ." he paused, making sure he had her eyes focused on his own, " . . . no less than ten times more powerful than all of us." _

Damn_, __she thought_. Damn, damn, damn_._ _"So what you're saying, Shuichi, is that you can't beat him."_

_The boy smiled slightly before saying, "Call me Kurama. And no, we don't expect to be able to beat him as we are." The_ Kurama _business aside, she sighed._

_"I'm sure you're here to tell me that I'm his next target, yes?" Kurama hesitated for half a second, and then nodded. She rubbed her chin in thought, her eyes scanning the floor. _

_"You can train and become more powerful, right?" she asked, and they nodded. "How long will it take you to become as powerful as this demon?" Kurama looked uneasily at Yusuke, who shrugged. _

_"We _might _be able to beat him after a month's worth of very hard, extreme training. _Maybe."

_She thought for a few more moments. "Let me get this straight. You four are fighters who have beaten very powerful demons in the past, but you're outmatched by this demon, who is coming to eat me. How do you know that I'm next?" It was Yusuke's turn to look uncomfortable, before Kurama removed a piece of paper from his pocket. He handed it to her, and she saw on it her name and picture, with a messy line of blood running through it. "So he sends notice to Spirit World of his next victim. I see." She handed the picture back, paused in thought for a few more seconds, and spoke again. "And he'll come tonight?" _

_Yusuke shrugged. "Probably, seeing as it's the tenth and that's the only picture we've received since the last victim. Plus, you're home alone tonight, so it's perfect." Not bothering to ask how he knew that she was home alone tonight, she sighed, and then stood up straight. _

_"Thank you very much for telling me all this. Now kindly get out." _


	3. Chapter 3

This fanfiction kept growing as I wrote it; originally it was one part, then three, and eventually it grew to five. Please, please note that the run-ons and fragments at the end of the flashback are completely intentional; it's a stylistic thing. Once again, this chapter is one of my best pieces of writing IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM. I cannot post that here because it's very graphic, but you can find it on another website by using the link in my profile. Thanks for your patience.

**Defeat and Victory**

**Part III: You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile**

_There was silence and shocked expressions on all four of the boys' faces, even the normally stoic Hiei, before Kuwabara spoke. "What the heck are you saying?" he asked, dumbfounded. They had spent many minutes psyching themselves up for tears, begging, or any sort of angst, not for her to throw them out in the middle of it. She smiled softly. _

_"I'm saying that I appreciate this more than you know, but I want she to leave, and now." _

_Hiei growled, the first real sign of coherence he had shown. "You are throwin__g us out, human?" he spat. He had been called away from . . . well, from doing nothing, to protect a stupid human girl who didn't believe them after all. Obviously, it didn't sit well with him._

_"Yeah, I am. I want you to leave," she said calmly, unfazed by his anger. It was understandable. Kurama stood. _

_"Why? You don't believe us?" _

_She smiled, her head inclined ever so slightly. "Of course I believe you. After that display? __You proved to me that you're demons, and I already knew about the disappearing girls. Believing isn't the problem here." She walked to the door and held it open expectantly, knowing in her heart that they wouldn't leave so easily. It was a sad knowing. _

_"Then what _is _the problem?" asked Yusuke angrily. He, Kuwabara and Kurama were all standing by now, coming to stand by her with upset and still somewhat surprised faces. Hiei had turned away from the window to glare at her, but otherwise hadn't moved. _

_"The problem is that your logic has been seriously flawed. Your minds aren't open enough to comprehend the situation in its entirety." She found her superior tone to be very irritating even to her own ears, but facts were facts. _

_Kurama, she could see (not without some amusement) was instantly furious at her statement. "Flawed?" he asked quietly, his eyes narrowed. Was this some kind of trick, or trap? How could she be so calm?_

_"You are throwing away your chance at victory for the life of one human girl, that's the flaw." Silence again. Boy, they really had no clue, did they? Yusuke narrowed his eyes at her too. If looks could kill, she'd be in a coffin by now. Then again, perhaps that wouldn't be so bad._

_"What are you saying?" h__e asked, a touch of exasperation in his voice. She sighed. This, for all her bravado, wasn't easy. In fact, looking back on her life it was definitely the hardest thing she'd ever had to say. Who knew she would have to say it today, of all days? And for this reason?_

_"I'm saying that you can't beat this demon now. You say you can beat him after a month, and if you start training tomorrow, you should be ready to beat him before the next girl is killed. There is absolutely no reason for you four to die today when you could fight him—and have better odds at surviving—in a month from now. If you stick around, I'm sure he'll kill you as well. Like I say, that would pointless." _

_Her words were, above all else, shocking. Almost as if he didn't quite understand it, Kuwabara asked, "Wait, so you're telling us to let __you die?" Her face split into a grin, but it was one that had tinges of sadness and regret in it. She didn't enjoy this at all, but who would?_

_"Yes, Kuwabara, that's exactly what I'm saying. If you leave now, before he comes, you can get in your month's training and beat him before the next girl dies. If you don't leave now, she'll be killed and so will everyone he decides he wants a bite of until the end of time. If, by letting me die, you can prevent millions of other deaths, then so be it." _

_Hiei glared at her, and Yusuke clenched his fists. "So, you're just giving up on life, are you? You're just going to sit down and accept it when he comes?"__ This, while obvious to the others, had not at all been what she had expected. She had expected anger, of course, and annoyance, but for him to be disappointed in her was humorously surprising. She had to laugh, and she did, loudly, with an air of slight misery. _

_"Of course I'm not going to just give up! I can punch and kick rather hard if I want and there are a few weapons around the house. I'm going to put up the best fight I can, and who knows? Perhaps I'll bother him so much he'll give up for the month. After all, I do have something on my side that the others didn't—I know what he is and I know that he's coming. I can surprise him. With an extreme amount of luck, I'll escape with my life. I'll run if I can. I don't expect to be able to, to be honest, but I would _never _just sit and wait for my death." Her speech at least relieved Yusuke. Kuwabara still looked as though he wanted to throw up at just the _idea_ of leaving her to the monster, Hiei was still glaring at her, and Kurama had began to look terribly uncomfortable._

_"Izanami, there's something else she should know before she insist that we leave," he began. Despite all her talk, there was a shifting in her stomach. There's always something else to know, isn't there? Kurama took a breath and said it, his tone cold, his eyes the same. _He's calculating and cutthroat, _she thought numbly. _Still not to be fully trusted.

_"The bodies are delivered to Spirit World because he only eats brain matter," Kurama said coldly. But there was more, of course, much, much more. "Upon autopsy it was found that this demon sexually assaults his victims before he kills them."_

_Suddenly, for no reason at all, saving face was her one goal in life. Her teeth clamped down on the tip of her tongue, not drawing blood but hurting enough so that her expression did not change drastically as Kurama dropped the bomb he had been saving for a pocket ace. She was always an extremely proud and stubborn creature, and after being so cheeky about the entire affair, to fall apart now would waste all of her talk and attitude. Her eyes closed momentarily, Iza took a deep breath through her nose, and then she exhaled, releasing her tongue. After it was all out in the open, she somehow felt very calm and her mind hadn't been changed at all. _

_"All the same, Detectives, I am not worth hundreds of lives. I'll ask you again to please run while you can." The door handle, which she had dropped a few minutes ago, felt warm in her hand as she grasped it again and pulled this time. She stood back, motioning toward the door. They did not move. Obviously, they had been hoping that this information would change her mind. They were wrong._

_"Look, we're not going to just run away!" yelled Kuwabara, glaring at her. Hiei's eyes were still trying to burn a hole in her head and Yusuke and Kurama both looked angry and defeated, at least for the time being. She said nothing to Kuwabara. She felt sorry for the boy, sorry for them all because if they did leave they would probably have to live with the guilt of her death. This was still better than the alternative. However, looking into Kurama's eyes, she thought that he would not feel guilt for this if they succeeded in killing the demon later on. Perhaps he had had the same idea as she all along.  
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_"Kurama knows that I'm right," she smiled gently. Through simple observation, she already had a hand on the group's coordination—Kurama was the brain of it all, and the others would more than likely listen to him rather than her. Kurama's eyes searched her own, his expression a chilling one. If she survived, she would have to ask him for a chess match. The others looked to Kurama, waiting for his rebuttal._

_"She makes sense; however, she underestimates our enemy greatly. She thinks that she might be able to escape if left on her own, but she cannot know the power he has," Kurama said softly. His eyes were very hard, trying to impress upon her the danger of the situation. _You will suffer, _his eyes said, _and then you will die. _It was a prediction, not a threat, but all the same was daunting. She smiled. _

_"To tell the truth, I don't expect that I'll have much of a chance to fight back at all. I said so to comfort your friends, but I don't underestimate him. I know that I die tonight." Her voice was very slow, very accepting. She felt unsure, afraid at the thought of death, but overall a sense of serenity. Somehow, everything she had been worrying about seemed so unimportant. Her only cares were that she got those boys out—and __soon_—_and that she died quickly. It was a freeing state of mind, if a little sad. _

_Suddenly, Hiei spoke again, his voice cold. "He's here," he said, and her eyes widened. _Shit, shit, shit._So much for that plan. She turned to them, her fists clenched. _

_"RUN!" s__he yelled, and she dashed into the kitchen, grabbing a large knife out of the drawer. She doubted it would do much good, but there was at least a chance. She returned to the living room to see that those _idiots _hadn't done what she said at all. Instead, they had drawn weapons. Kuwabara had a glowing orange sword, Yusuke's finger was glowing blue again, Kurama had drawn his vine/whip, and Hiei had produced a sword from who knew where. They were facing the door, waiting. She stood near Yusuke, glaring angrily at them, and that was when the front door opened again. Remembering that she hadn't locked it, she rolled her eyes. An easy way in. God, could she be so stupid?_

_The demon that walked in wasn't very impressive, at least not in the way she thought he would be. He gave off an air of being very, very old, yet his countenance was quite young. He was taller than Kuwabara, with long limbs and a slight frame. His skin was slightly tanner than the color of milk, and to contrast to this his eyes were deep indigo. They were like tar pits in his face. His hair was very long, much longer than Kurama's, reaching his knees. It was a warm brown color, straight, and thick. He wore a red robe with very long sleeves and gold trim. There was a pattern of flames on it in black. She could see no weapon, but then, it was obvious that he didn't need one. He smirked, raising and eyebrow, as he took in the scene. "I am Kuro," he said, eyeing all of them. _

_She ground her teeth together, furious that they didn't leave when she said._Now they'll die . . ._ she thought desperately, and she thought that maybe she should distract him so that they could run away. To do so, she decided to put herself directly in the line of danger by running straight at him, the knife raised. He waited for her to get close and then swept his hand through the air, throwing her onto the floor. She landed hard, but jumped up again, this time standing between Hiei and Kuwabara. "Get out of here," she whispered to Kuwabara, and he shook his head without speaking or taking his eyes off Kuro. The demon, who had been examining Kurama and Yusuke, turned his head toward her at an inhuman speed, which made sense considering he wasn't human in the first place. _

_"Little one," he breathed, staring at her, his voice barely above a whisper, yet she heard it clearly. His voice was almost ear-drum-shatteringly deep, as if it was all bass and no vocals at all. There was something laced within it, though, that she recognized even though she had never heard it before that moment. His vocal cords reverberated with the deep, animal sound of lust. She wished he wouldn't speak again, so of course he did. _

_"Do not consider yourself noble," he smirked, his lips stretching very far on his face, and she honestly wanted to hurt him, in any way she could. For now, the fear was making her angry rather than immobilizing her, and perhaps that was a good thing. His words hung in the air as if they had grown physical weight and were hovering around her head. He was wrong though, because she didn't want them to leave because she felt noble—she wanted them to leave at this point so they wouldn't witness her death. Of course, that they would survive was more important, but looking into the eyes of Kuro, it was very difficult to see straight. Those eyes, like black holes in his face, were confusing her human mind easily._

_Kuwabara had apparently had enough standing around and rushed Kuro. The demon swatted him aside as he had done Iza, and Kuwabara flew into the kitchen, landing with a thump on the floor. Yusuke shot a blast of his blue light at Kuro, and though the demon was hit, it did very little to him. He hardly moved with the impact. Hiei was next, rushing the demon from the side and swinging his sword skillfully. He managed to cut up one of Kuro's arms, but the wound didn't even draw blood. Kurama brandished his whip at Kuro almost simultaneously and the demon allowed it to wrap around his hand before he yanked it out of Kurama's hands and cast it aside, the vine returning to its rose form. _

_Hiei meanwhile was dashing around Kuro in an amazingly fast circle, while Yusuke powered up yet another attack. Kuro's raised his hands, and from them sprouted claws that were very menacing . . . at least three inches long, but with the strength of steel, they slashed through the air and tore through Hiei's cloak, into his chest. Hiei, who was much more shocked than in pain, stopped circling and froze in midair for a millisecond. It was long enough. Kuro took him out of the fight with yet another clawed hand, this one across the demon's neck. _

_T__he look on Hiei's face was worse than his wound. His eyes were round, so round they engulfed his face, and he fell to his knees, his head wobbling dangerously on his neck. He collapsed near Kuro, who smirked and turned to Yusuke, who had charged him. Glancing at Hiei, she saw that one of his eyes was open and the other was wincing. He was still awake, that was good. One of his hands was covered in blood, but pressing down on the biggest part of the wound on his neck. Keeping coherent enough to put pressure on it, better still. Meanwhile, Yusuke was not faring as well. His charge at Kuro had given the demon enough time to turn and, using two of his claws, cut the Detective. The boy fell over, landing on his side in a fetal position. His hands pressed against the gaping hole, and she could tell from his screams that he too was still awake. Kuwabara now ran at the demon, his sword actually slicing through Kuro's arm. It left a shiny, angry burn, but Kuro hardly noticed. Instead, he bit into the human's shoulder. Kuwabara shrieked and fell to the floor, his sword disappearing. He writhed there, and she saw that his shoulder was gravely wounded. That left her and Kurama._

_Kurama, who was never one to panic, was attempting to transform into Yoko. He could do so on a whim by this point, but it was still not quite fast enough to avoid the slash of Kuro's claws. Kuro darted forward before either of she could move, and with his dangerous fingers, he made an X in the air just in front of Kurama. His shirt fell to pieces. The wound was deep enough to cut through Kurama's pectoral muscle, but not quite enough to scrape his heart. Kuro kicked Kurama's form aside, causing the demon to scream. She was standing alone now, shaking, the knife in her hand. Kurama had been right. She had underestimated Kuro, and seriously. Perhaps it was the last mistake she would ever make. Kuro reached out a hand toward her face slowly, while she flinched and leaned back. He swung his hand, and slapped her across the face. _

_His claws did not touch her, but the force of the hit made her neck pop and her body twist to the right. She fell to her knees, dropping the knife. Her face was pounding as though a car had hit her, and her neck was almost making her scream in agony. If he had hit just a bit harder, it would have paralyzed her. As it was, she blacked out momentarily, probably more from shock than anything. When her eyes opened, she guessed it was less than a minute later, yet much about the place had changed. The four boys were leaning up against the wall, still all bleeding and still all conscious. They looked decidedly positioned, so she assumed that Kuro had set them up that way, God only knew why._

_They were all staring at Iza anxiously. She __was lying in the same position she had been when she had blacked out, and looking up slowly she saw that Kuro was standing near her feet, looking down at her pompously. He was smirking. "I do not kill the Detectives, little one," he said to her, pacing around her body while his eyes bore into her own. His voice had a faint accent, which she could not place. It sounded something like a mix of French and German, but neither was exactly right. "I do not kill them because they do not taste as sweet as you will." She swallowed the lump in her throat, resisting the urge to throw up. Dear God, was this real? She were about to be eaten in her own living room while her parents were enjoying a dinner party and her brother was sleeping in a college dorm miles away? It was _impossible.

_The deep voice rang out again, painfully deep, as though her ears were bleeding. The lust remained there, subtle but daunting. "I do not kill them, and they will see, little one." He bent at the knees, his face nearing hers, one clawed and pale hand coming to a rest on her upper arm. His lips, she saw, were extremely long, so that they reached almost to his ears, and very full, and only slightly pinker than his milky white skin. There was blood on them, probably Kuwabara's. She shivered under his cold, strong hand. "They will see what happens when humans get in my way. They will see what happens when you try to sacrifice yourself." In this moment, she felt a wave of terror and numb horror wash over her. It was everywhere, in the air that she breathed in through her nose and in the ground near her and in his grasp, in the hand that was merely resting on her arm but felt as though it was trying to stop the blood flowing through her limb. Suddenly she was surer than she had ever been about anything in her entire life, and she was sure that she _didn't want to die.

_Too late, however. Far too late. In front of the eyes of four Spirit Detectives of Earth, the only four; the ancestral demon Yusuke who had spent his life protecting those he loved and those he had never met; the human Kazuma Kuwabara who had always had a sense for otherworldly things; the demon/human hybrid who had betrayed and stolen only to be granted a new life in which he sacrificed himself at every turn for those he loved; the demon who had been abandoned so young and helpless and had grown wild and cruel and had only begun to realize what life should be; in front of them all the demon Kuro took his clawed hands to her and it all happening so fast, so fast . . ._

_When it was over, he looked at the detectives. He was smiling. His hair swept around him in a great arc,__ and the smile, the smile, _the smile!

_The smile that stretched from ear to ear, wide, grinning, seeming to say, I'LL EAT YOU NEXT! I'LL EAT YOU NEXT! And those lips, those God-awful, horrible, sickening, terrifying lips just smiled and smiled._

_And then, there was merciful darkness._


	4. Chapter 4

I struggled a lot just before and during this chapter, but things worked out in the end. Special thanks to havishanta of the Forever, Fornever Guild on GaiaOnline; she gave me an awesome idea which eventually helped me end the fic. Enjoy.

**Defeat and Victory**

**Part IV: ****Running from Memory Lane**

"That was not the first murder I had to clean up after, you realize. Seven before her had died, and one more has died since. Nine, total, and all of them young girls. I know what I did was wrong, but it was necessary for the sake of everyone." Koenma took pictures from his desk; they were nine photographs of young girls with blood running through them, as Iza had described. He laid them out for the rest of them to see. Iza floated to the background, watching, as the teammates reacted. Kuwabara clenched his face in pain and his fists just as much so. Kurama was facing the ground, unable to look anyone, least of Koenma, in the eye. Hiei's anger was nearly palpable, and he had already laid a hand on his sword; it was more for comfort than a threat, but Koenma kept an eye on him all the same. Yusuke strode forward, his eyes flaring in fury.

"Everyone? Koenma, those girls died because _you _did this. If we had been able to go after him—"

"You would have died, Yusuke. Besides, none of you wanted to go after him immediately."

"We . . . what?"

"You had watched the most horrific murder that most of you have ever seen! Hiei was in a coma for several days, and only made it out without any scarring or health problems because three of my healers nearly died for him. Kuwabara beat up so many boys at your school that they nearly expelled him. I didn't hear Kurama speak one word to anyone in the week before I erased your memory. And you, Yusuke . . ."

"What, Koenma?" His voice was growing urgent; he could feel the tears on their way.

"Yusuke, you gave up. You would not eat, or speak, or even consider going after Gakido. There was no way that you would have beaten him like that. I had to do what was best for my team! I had to—"

"Koenma, we understand." Kurama held up a hand, though his eyes were so cold that Koenma nearly shivered. Whatever Kurama said, he would never forgive the demi-god for such an offense.

"You do?"

"Your mistake was becoming emotionally involved with your employees. If you had not had a personal attachment to us, you would not have spared our feelings, and you would not have erased our memories. The solution is quite simple." Kurama turned to Iza and gave a slight bow. "I am sorry that I could not save you," he said honestly, and she bent forward to kiss him. He did not feel it, but that made no difference.

"It is not your fault. I found peace in death, and I only wanted you to know the truth." She gave Koenma a scathing glare before saying, "I died so that other girls would not suffer the same fate. Save them."

Kurama looked at her before turning abruptly and walking toward the door. Hiei, after a moment's deliberation, followed. Kurama turned back to Koenma when he reached the edge of the room. "If we end the friendship, you will be able to make decisions based upon fact rather than emotion. Send your missions through Botan from now on; this is goodbye." And with that, he was gone.

Yusuke clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, looking as though he had something important to say but was changing his mind. Finally, after several minutes of silence, he said, "I'm going to get this guy," he said, closing his eyes. "And I don't want to see you again." The detective, who had come to be one of Koenma's only true friends, left without a second glance. It was a long time before Koenma had the strength to look to Kuwabara, who was watching Iza's ghost absently.

"What will you do, Kuwabara?" Koenma asked. "All of you are woefully outmatched by Kuro. Even with training, I'm not sure you'll make it . . ."

"Yusuke's probably gone to Genkai's," Kuwabara said, ignoring Koenma's last. "I have no idea where Kurama and Hiei are going, but they'll probably train together." Koenma watched as Kuwabara slowly turned to him, his voice low and down trod. "I should go train, too," he mumbled. As he walked toward the door, Iza stepped in his path.

"Beat him for me," she whispered, eyes brimming with tears that were pale and translucent. "I know you can do it."

"I'm sorry," Kuwabara said, hanging his head. Her white fingers caressed his cheek, and his sense of spirit allowed him to feel them—cold, but definitely there for a second.

"You are a good man," she said, smiling. "Don't ever think anything different." Kuwabara turned and went out the door before his own tears could be counted. Iza took a deep breath, and then faced Koenma.

"That purple stone I saw," she said, twisting her mouth in thought. "Is it important?"

Koenma stared at her for a long time, as if thinking to himself. She saw a flash of recognition pass through his face, and her heart jumped for the first time in many days. "It might be," he said honestly. "It just might be."

Genkai felt Yusuke coming long before he arrived. Gifted as she was with her various senses, she managed to prepare a sketchy lesson plan in her mind while he was still climbing the stairs. His aura, she recognized, was equal parts defeated and determined. _He has suffered his losses_, she thought, taking a sip of tea. _Now he must move on. _She didn't know how feasible that was. Yusuke had never been able to control his emotions as well as she'd hoped, and his interest in fighting—which had started as a hobby—had grown into a sense of deep responsibility. All the same, she had never seen him take a loss so hard. Then she realized that she had never seen Yusuke lose (at least not on a large scale.)

He went to the main room of the temple, and she was waiting there as if she had not been expecting him. He carried with him a bag, and she was thrown back to those months ago, when he'd arrived on her doorstep just before the Dark Tournament. His mindset then had been vastly different; he had been anticipatory, but excited. He had _relished_ the idea of fighting enemies that actually provided challenges. Now, he only seemed grim, as though fighting this new enemy was much more chore than hobby. "I need help," Yusuke said, and that was a comment so honest that it almost threw off her façade. She recovered quickly, turning to face him with the teacup in her hands.

"That much is obvious," she said, frowning. "What makes you think I'm the one to help you?"

Yusuke's mouth tightened and he dropped his bag on the hardwood floor. "You know me best," he said, arms hanging lamely by his sides.

"Tell me you didn't come for a sympathy party," Genkai said, setting the teacup on a counter near her. The tea was cold and bitter, anyway.

"You know why I'm here," he said, clenching his fists. His energy was maxed out, ready to explode, and she thought it prudent to get him out of the house before that happened; otherwise, she'd be spending her retirement fund on temple repairs.

"Go outside; I want to show you something."

Despite his better judgment, Hiei followed Kurama from Koenma's office. The fox took a short path through the gates of Spirit World and exited back into the human world, heading for the forest in which they had once made a deal with each other—the same forest where they had met Yusuke for the first time. When Hiei thought back on that day, his body tensed. Somehow, he'd managed to fool himself that he had always taken his enemies at face value—that, until Kuro, he had never been too confident or too arrogant to defeat them. Now, following the redhead through the trees, he realized how wrong he was. He had never been anything but cocky; every enemy he'd come across (with a few meaningless exceptions over the course of the Dark Tournament) had been woefully underestimated—_beginning_ with Yusuke. His jaw set, Hiei followed Kurama and thought about the kind of training that he would need to undergo to rid himself of that cocky streak.

When Kurama turned, (Hiei was certain that the fox knew he'd been following him,) Hiei forgot his problems. Hiei had not seen Kurama so angry in a long time; his fists were shaking, and his spine was so rigid that it might have been made of steel. Midday sun beamed down on him through the trees, making him look pale. The boy's head was lowered, and his bangs shielded Hiei from those penetrating green eyes. "Leave me be, Hiei," Kurama said, tone low and warning. Hiei took a step to his left, as if leaving, and then thought better of it.

"Getting angry will not stop Kuro," he snapped, folding his hands into his pockets. "It will probably further aid him."

"At this point, that is the least of my worries," Kurama countered, a warm breeze shuffling through his hair and the nearby trees. It was an eerie, ominous wind that Hiei liked not the least.

"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought," Hiei said. Kurama looked up at that; his eyes were worse than Hiei had predicted.

"You never trusted Koenma. You knew he would do something like this," the boy accused, and for a moment Hiei was sure that they'd come to blows. He nodded as delicately as possible; if it came down to a fight between them, he wasn't sure that he could win, and anyway that would be counterproductive to his current plans. "But _I_ believed that he was too weak to make major decisions without consulting someone," Kurama said.

"'Someone' meaning you," Hiei surmised.

"I never thought he would . . . would go to such lengths . . ."

"Would tamper with your memories?" Hiei finished. Kurama looked away, hair blowing softly in the wind. His fists dripped blood onto the springy, green grass below them. If Hiei weren't so distracted, he would have realized that this was the very place where they had made their pact with Gouki those years ago. "Why does that anger you so much?"

"He took a chance with our minds," Kurama snapped, flipping the hair out of his eyes—his startling, inhuman eyes. "He played with our memories—he _erased_ them." Hiei was going to ask what that mattered, but then he saw the answer on Kurama's face beforehand. _Memories are all he has left._

"You have them back," Hiei said, tilting his head.

"You're _defending _him?" Kurama asked, mouth tumbling open in shock. Hiei had harbored more hatred for the pint-sized ruler than almost anyone had.

"Hardly," Hiei scoffed, turning away from his ally. The trees here were nice, but they were nothing compared to the colossal trees back (_home_) in demon world. "But _you_ need to channel your anger, and the more at our enemy, the better."

"Don't tell me what to do," Kurama said, turning his glare away from Hiei. "Fighting Kuro is a lost cause."

Hiei laughed, a barking, mad sound that gave Kurama the shivers. "If you truly believe that, then you deserve what's coming."

Kurama fixed Hiei with a stare so fiery that Hiei almostflinched. "What's coming?"

"Kuro attacks human women, Kurama. Women all over this god-forsaken island—the same island where you keep your company."

"Kuro's victims are much younger than Shiori," Kurama said at once, almost to himself.

"If you think a few years won't stop him, then you have an unpleasant surprise in your future," Hiei scoffed. "What is twenty years to demons who live for centuries?"

Kurama's entire posture collapsed almost instantly. For all of his brilliance, it had not occurred to him that Shiori might be in danger in a more direct way than she already was. Several yards of grass had separated them for the bulk of the conversation; now Hiei stepped toward his friend, who was allowing himself to be manipulated quite fabulously. "I remember what he does to his victims," Hiei said softly. "I remember Iza's screams. Who's to say that it won't be your home covered in blood soon?"

"Hiei," Kurama said, tone one of distant warning. Hiei was too far into it to give up now.

"Do you think Kuro remembers our faces, or our scents?" He asked, shortening the distance between them with every word. "Do you think he has been watching us since that fool took away our greatest weapon against him? Do you think that he's made a list—and _do you think her name is on it?_"

"Stop," Kurama shouted, voice cracking under the strain. "I understand, but stop before you—"

"Before I what?" Hiei interrupted, looking up into his friend's face. "Before I say what you've secretly feared since hearing the news? Before I say that your mother is likely going to be Kuro's next victim? Before I say that this will be your fault?"

Kurama screamed, his eyes closing in agony and guilt. Birds in a nearby tree took off, squawking indignantly. The wind died. Hiei glared at the boy, mouth a grim slash in his face. "We all have made this mistake," he said quietly. "After her, it will be Keiko, and then Shizuru, and quite possibly . . ." He could not bring himself to say her name, but Kurama understood. He understood plenty. Hiei gazed at the broken boy for a long time before turning away. "I'm going to train," he said, slipping his hands nonchalantly into his pockets once more. "Find me when you decide whose life is worth the fight."

Genkai's courtyard was perfect for fighting. It was level, covered in soft grass that was well cushioned for falling, and was free of most obstructions for several yards on all sides. That said, Yusuke had not done any of his training there before this day. He was not sure how much more Genkai could teach him, or whether any of it would be useful against Kuro's monstrous strength, but he was willing to hear what she had to say no matter what came of it. Genkai led him out, and then stood with her back to him, hands linked behind her, and stared off into the trees. "Koenma told me the story after he had already altered your memories," she said, voice distant and calm. "I told him that he had made a grave mistake, but it was too late by then."

"I told him I never wanted to see him again," Yusuke said tonelessly.

"That's fair," Genkai said, and for once without a sarcastic edge to her voice. "I told him to expect as much." Yusuke had nothing to say to that. He stood in silence for some time, waiting for her to tell him what to do—how to beat a thing that was more inside of him than out.

"There is no point in my training you yet, Yusuke," Genkai said, turning to face him. "Not with your head so mucked up that you can't tell a friend from an enemy."

"Koenma—" 

"I don't want to talk about Koenma," she cut him off, her rough voice startling fear in him—a holdover from his early training days. "We've had this conversation before."

"This is different," Yusuke said, unable to stop himself from stepping forward. "We _lost_. People are dying all the time, and he's already killed nine. I don't have time to get around my damn emotional blocks."

"Then you don't have time to beat this demon," Genkai said simply, and began to walk toward the temple. He stood, dumbstruck, and watched her go with a slowly dropping jaw.

"Genkai! Don't make me blow up your whole damn temple!"

"As if you could!" she shouted, whirling around to face him. "Try firing that peashooter of yours—I doubt more than hot air will come out!" Yusuke pulled every ounce of energy into his finger, so much so that it felt as though he would explode. His toes, and then his legs, and slowly his body began to feel numb; all of the energy from it sucked dry and expelled into one little finger. Then, he mentally pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, except that Genkai's smirk (which was much less gleeful than he was used to) stretched a bit wider.

"W-what . . .?" Yusuke asked, looking at his finger. All that energy was gone—he felt like a deflated balloon that had been frozen solid.

"Like I said," she smiled, "you can't fight as you are. Until you decide to change the way you feel, you are so much dead weight."

He let her get near the door of the nearest part of the temple before he shouted back. "How?" Genkai beckoned him. After a minute, he followed. Yusuke sat across from Genkai, looking at her with intensity that she had not seen from him in a long time. She thought that perhaps he was angry with himself, and that was part of it, but she couldn't miss the fear that seemed to radiate from him in great waves. He was terrified.

"Yusuke. Your power is hidden behind a wall of guilt," she said, taking a sip of her tea. He watched her expressionlessly, turning his gaze internally, trying to figure himself out. Why was he so damn confusing? Why didn't he understand himself like normal people? "It is not uncommon to feel survivor's guilt, especially when you lose a fight," she said. "You will not always win."

Yusuke looked at his hands, and wasn't surprised to see them shaking. "It's not that," he realized. "I know that I can't beat everyone—though I'm hoping Kurama will find a way for us to beat this one."

"Then what?" Genkai pushed gently, trying to lead him there without telling him so. He frowned, clenching his fists, struggling to understand.

"I think . . . I think I was afraid to die. He was so powerful, and we don't know what to do about him. Even though I know what happens after death, and though I should have been able to save that girl . . ."

"Yusuke, you are not seriously trying to say that you held back on that fight because you were afraid of dying," Genkai snapped, setting down her teacup with a _clang_. "I thought I taught you better than that."

"Well, I'm sorry!" Yusuke shouted, standing up and knocking over the table that was set between them. Her tea went flying, spraying all over the hardwood floor, but Genkai hardly noticed. "I have friends now, I have a life. I don't _want _to die. Is that so wrong? Isn't that exactly what you tried to teach me?"

He breathed heavily, little gasps of air coming out in huffs, and she realized that he was every bit the child that she had always known him to be. "Yusuke," she said calmly, "it is not wrong to fear death, even when you know what's coming. Sit down." He glared at her, but he sat, as loudly and obnoxiously as he could. She folded her arms, closing her eyes. "I taught you to know yourself, and to know your motivations. If you think that you didn't try as hard as you could during that fight, then you don't know yourself at all. Or are you afraid that giving your all won't be enough, so you'd rather lie and say that you _didn't _give it one hundred percent?"

Yusuke's face fell, his shoulders sagging. "I don't know."

Genkai stood now, turning slightly away from him and going to pick up her teacup. "Well, you'd better figure it out soon."

Kuwabara had always trained in his front yard before becoming teammates with Yusuke, and so he returned there when he had nowhere else to go. The problem, he quickly realized, with what Koenma had done (besides the fact that it was just plain messed up) was that they could not remember exactly how the fight with Kuro had gone down, and therefore, did not know exactly what they needed to improve on so that defeating Kuro could become possible. However, as he thought about the account that Iza had given them, he realized that she had been very detailed in her descriptions on purpose. Clearly, there was something there that they needed to know—to remember. He was punching away at a dummy when he began to slow down, and then stop altogether. He thought about taking his suspicions to Kurama, but then revised this option. Kurama and Hiei were both really mad about what Koenma had done, and Yusuke wasn't himself, either. Kuwabara was frustrated with Koenma, but glad to have an explanation for the nightmares he'd been having.

Since no one else was ready to deal with this, he had to do it himself. He frowned, letting his fists fall to his sides. They still didn't know how a demon that powerful could get to the human world, and that was bugging him more than anything else. He knew that strong demons sometimes got through, but Koenma had said that anyone stronger than Toguro couldn't get through. This Kuro guy was a _lot _stronger than Toguro—so how did he make it through? "Maybe the barrier's defective," Kuwabara thought, but dismissed it. If that was so, then more demons than that would have come through, right? He paced the yard, thinking. Shizuru watched him, amused, from a window in the kitchen. "If he had to be weaker than Toguro to get here, then he had to have gotten stronger than Toguro once he was already past the barrier," Kuwabara mused aloud, rubbing his chin. He looked at the dummy he had once beaten up so forcefully and tried to puzzle it out. He thought that he was very close. If the demon was too strong to have come through, then he could only have gotten through by being weak. Which meant . . .

"He got powerful here, somehow," Kuwabara thought. He closed his eyes, remembering the nightmares. Red, a red robe, and something sparkling there, just beyond his reach.

"The purple stone," he said, his entire body stopping all movement. Iza said she'd seen a purple stone. It was probably nothing, he thought, probably just a coincidence, but he decided that it was time to talk to Koenma. Botan happily gave Kuwabara a ride to Spirit World, since she had been afraid that she'd never get to see him or the others again—though it had only been three hours since they'd seen each other last. She dropped him off, saying that she had lots of work to get to, and he made the short walk to Koenma's office himself. He was angry with the small boy, but thought he could understand why Koenma had done what he had. Anyway, there was no way he was going to sit around and cry about his memories when they had someone that had to be stopped.

When he entered the office, Koenma was hat-deep in stacks of papers, and barely registered Kuwabara's self-announcement. "Uh, Koenma?" he called, looking for the tiny prince. Koenma mumbled something and continued shuffling through a series of papers, so Kuwabara let himself in and headed for the desk. "Koenma, are you busy?" he asked, looking over a large stack of schematics so that he could see the ruler.

"Oh, yes, Kuwabara," Koenma said absent-mindedly, and then dropped the papers on his lap and stared up. "Kuwabara?"

"Yeah," Kuwabara said, looking down at him. Koenma jumped up, squealing with joy.

"I'm glad you're here! You always were my favorite, ha ha. I knew you guys couldn't stand to ignore me for the rest of your lives!"

Kuwabara raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to say. That he hadn't had time to forgive Koenma? That he didn't think that Koenma had learned his lesson just yet? The stress of figuring it out was gone when he remembered why he had come in the first place. "Koenma, I think I figured out how Kuro got through the barrier. Iza said something about a purple stone, and I was thinking that maybe it gave him his powers after he got over here."

Koenma nodded, suddenly all business. "I've had this thought, too," he said, shuffling through the files on his desk. "I have had all of my assistants trying to track down something that could potentially give a demon this kind of power. They're all working around the clock, but so far, we've had no luck. Did you have any ideas?"

Kuwabara shook his head, frowning. "No; I don't know about anything like that. But I did remember that Iza said something about a purple stone that Kuro was wearing for a necklace."

Koenma nodded, scribbling down the details on a scrap of paper. "Okay, I'll let the ogres know. That may narrow down our search enough to give us a hit, although we can't rule out the possibility that the necklace is just a decoy."

Kuwabara nodded now, shuffling his feet. An awkward air swelled the room, and he was starting to sweat. "How can I help?" he asked, mostly to break the silence. He looked up and saw Koenma looking at him with intense determination.

"There is one person who might know something about this off the top of his head," Koenma said, and Kuwabara frowned. He knew whom Koenma was talking about, but— "I know he won't talk to me," Koenma said, "and that's my fault. But he'll talk to _you_," Koenma said tilting his head in Kuwabara's direction. "It would be helpful if you could go ask him about it."

Kuwabara inhaled slowly, thinking that there had to be an easier way. But Kurama was one thousand years old and he'd spent most of that time looking for ancient treasures. If there were anyone who would know about a powerful jewel, it would be the fox. Kuwabara nodded after a brief hesitation.

"Okay. But I hope you know that Kurama is still really angry with you."

Koenma looked at him sourly. "Kuwabara, I believe I know that better than anyone."

Botan took Kuwabara back to the human world, and left him there. She could sense that he wanted to speak to Kurama alone, and she wasn't about to invade their privacy. As he walked, letting his sixth sense guide him to where he knew Kurama would be, Kuwabara thought about their predicament. He was used to taking action rather than contemplating plans, and it didn't suit him that he had to think so hard at this moment. He hoped that Kurama had a plan. His feet carried him to Kurama's side of town, and he was a few blocks away from the redhead's home before Hiei showed up. He jumped into Kuwabara's path, causing the taller boy to jump and yell obscenities at him. "Hiei! I'm not used to you jumping out at me from the shadows like that!"

Hiei glared at him, red eyes surveying his teammate acidly. "I thought you had psychic powers. You should learn to see it coming."

Kuwabara gritted his teeth and pushed past Hiei, heading forward. "Well, get out of my way. I'm going to ask Kurama if he has a plan."

Hiei followed slowly, sliding his hands into his cloak pockets. "Anyone with a sixth sense would know that Kurama isn't willing to talk to you."

"Why not? I didn't do anything wrong," Kuwabara shouted over his shoulder. Hiei sped up so that he was walking almost on Kuwabara's side, glaring up at the large human.

"You know he's angry with Koenma. He isn't thinking clearly; whatever you say will probably just anger him more."

Kuwabara slowed down slightly, letting his pumping arms fall to his sides. "But we _need _him. We think Kuro's using a magical artifact to boost his power, and Kurama would know what he's got. Plus, we need a plan. Unless you have one, shorty," Kuwabara said, glancing at Hiei, who gave him a look of obvious disdain.

"Planning isn't my job. Besides, are you sure you wouldn't rather spend the rest of your short life praying for mercy?" Kuwabara swung his right arm, knowing that he'd miss and feeling a sort of warm comfort when he did. They talked tough, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Hiei respected him, at least, and though wild horses couldn't have dragged it out of him, Kuwabara respected Hiei too. The demon flitted away, to the path just in front of him. Kuwabara kept walking, ignoring him.

"Kurama won't have a plan," Hiei warned, standing his ground as Kuwabara barreled past. The boy shrugged, pressing forward, and Hiei took a brief moment to awe at his stubbornness. Then, he decided to check on Yusuke.

Shiori was not home; since it was a weekday, she was at work for a few more hours. Kurama was there alone, and answered the door only after Kuwabara had been ringing the doorbell for fifteen minutes. His appearance was a little shocking to Kuwabara, especially since they'd seen each other only a few hours ago; his hair was un-brushed and messy, there were dark shadows under his eyes, and a cruel, cold look usually reserved for their enemies was now aimed at Kuwabara. "Kurama, I have to talk to you," he said, stepping closely to the door. Kurama did not step back, and his grip on the door handle was iron. Kuwabara bent, pulling at his shoes as though he hoped to be invited in. In fact, he wasn't expecting it, but Kurama surprised him by finally stepping back and throwing the door open. The house looked fine, although Kuwabara suspected that Shiori had cleaned it herself. Kurama didn't look like he was in the mood to do anything. Kuwabara set his shoes aside and crossed the threshold into their greeting room.

"I just talked to Koenma," Kuwabara said, and Kurama slammed the door shut behind them. Windows rattled in their frames, and a painting in the hallway fell to the ground. Kurama turned around slowly, that cold look frozen on his face. He also looked a little hysterical. Kuwabara flinched, hoping that this conversation wouldn't come to blows. "We both think that Kuro is using some sort of object to make him stronger," Kuwabara said, following Kurama to the mouth of the hall. Kurama was bending down to pick up the painting that had fallen. Silently, he placed it back on the wall and turned toward his teammate.

"So?"

"So, we were wondering if you knew of anything that he could have gotten in the human world. It would be a purple crystal, or maybe a jewel. He's wearing it on a necklace."

Kurama looked at him apathetically, eyelids drooping. "Never heard of it. Is there anything else?"

Surprised by the brevity of Kurama's tone, Kuwabara frowned. "I also wanted to know if you had a plan for our fight with Kuro. I was thinking that we need to separate him from the necklace, and then maybe we can take him." Kurama pushed past his friend into the meeting room, his eyes on the floor. His aura was weak and lame, and Kuwabara thought that in any other circumstance he'd assume that Kurama was really sick. He followed, grasping Kurama by one shoulder. "C'mon. I know what Koenma did was messed up, but—"

Kurama flinched away from his hand, glaring. "I don't want to talk about him. Why don't you go?"

Kuwabara gritted his teeth, his body falling into a defensive stance without his knowledge. "No. You're acting dumb, and we need you right now. You can't just quit on us when you feel like it."

Kurama looked at the floor, but Kuwabara sensed the tension in his muscles and knew that Kurama was not feeling shameful. His hands were tight, squeezing into fists. "Kuwabara," Kurama said, with more malice than he had ever done before, "it doesn't matter if we plan for our fight with Kuro or not. As soon as Yusuke's done training with Genkai, we'll go after him. I don't expect any of us to survive."


	5. Chapter 5

Finished: March 2010

This story has been a struggle because, from the first, I've been trying to work out how the characters would react to these bad situations that I keep throwing at them. Please tell me what you think of the results. While writing the fic I was constantly attempting to figure out what to do with this final fight; I think I wrote myself comfortable. I hope you've enjoyed the story, as it was written for you.

**Defeat and Victory**

**Part V: Into the House**

"I have to learn to trust myself again," Yusuke said solemnly, looking at the floor beneath him. It was hard wood, warm and slightly comforting. "That's it, isn't it? That's why my energy is low."

Genkai nodded, folding her arms across her small frame. "Because you can't remember your fight, you assume that you lost because you weren't trying hard enough. I wasn't there, Yusuke . . . but I know you, apparently better than you know yourself. You tried as hard as you could, and lost."

Yusuke swallowed around a lump of flesh in his throat, his heart thumping wildly against his chest. "So maybe I lied to myself because I'm afraid."

"It's not wrong to be afraid," Genkai said, "as long as you're brave. Some might argue that being afraid is a requirement of bravery. If you go to this fight fearing for your life, then you'll be brave, so long as you go."

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He thought about Keiko and his mother, knowing that he might never see them again . . . and pushed them away. He was terrified of dying, and of seeing his friends die before him, and thinking about everything he was going to miss wouldn't help. He was afraid, but he was going to do it anyway. _I don't know if that's being brave or stupid, but it's what I have to do._

He looked up at Genkai, and she saw the student that she had helped to make. "You've made up your mind."

"I'm here because I decided to save a little boy from being hit by a car," Yusuke said slowly, making sure to keep his tone even. "All I've done since then is fight for everyone I care about and enjoy almost every minute of it. I don't know why they decided to stick me with the responsibility of keeping the world safe, but they did. It wouldn't be right to ditch that now."

Genkai nodded, her lined, old face reminding him of something else that he would miss when he was gone. "Then you're ready." And as she said it, his energy came flowing gratefully back. He was glad to feel it, even though he knew that it wasn't enough.

He took the stairs two at a time, checking his pockets for bus money. He had just enough, and made it to the bus stop with a few moments to spare. When it arrived, he jumped on, paid his fare, and waited calmly toward the front for his city to go flashing by. He got off at the stop nearest Kurama's house, feeling confident that at least Kurama would be there, if only him. The others they would round up together, once Yusuke was sure that Kurama was ready for this fight. He knew that Koenma's actions had messed up his friend, but he didn't know how much or how poorly Kurama had been dealing with this, due to his own problems being all-consuming. By now, it was just before three in the afternoon, and this easily felt like the longest day in Yusuke's entire life. It was hard to believe that he had only known about this unbeatable enemy since mid-morning today. As he was pondering this and running down the street to Kurama's, he realized that Hiei was following him. Stopping on the sidewalk, Yusuke looked around at the tall buildings and trees, waiting. After a few moments, the diminutive demon appeared a few feet away on the sidewalk, feeling a little nostalgic for his talk with Kuwabara.

"Hey, Hiei," Yusuke said, stepping forward. The demon merely stared at him, mouth drawn in a tight line.

"Are you going to bother Kurama as well?"

Yusuke frowned, his brow furrowing. "Did Kuwabara go to find him?"

Hiei nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on Yusuke's face. "I tried to tell the oaf that Kurama isn't going to have a plan, but he refused to see reason."

Yusuke grinned. "That sounds just like him. Maybe we should go see if they've burned the house down yet." After a few seconds of silent regard, Hiei nodded again, and Yusuke thought for a moment that he was glad to have at least one friend with his head on straight.

They heard the shouting a block away, and simultaneously broke into sprints when they realized what the sound was. Hiei was much faster than Yusuke, but toned his speed down to stay with Yusuke; he certainly didn't want to come upon that scene by himself. When they arrived, Yusuke barged in the front door, barely taking the time to remove his shoes before he ran into the living room. Kurama and Kuwabara were standing inches apart, glaring at each other, and neither of them spared a glance for the other two when they arrived. Even so, looking at all of them together Yusuke felt a shift in his aura. The circle was complete again. He tried not to think of what would happen if any of them didn't survive their upcoming fight.

"You guys gonna make out or keep fighting?" Yusuke asked, grinning. It sobered him a bit when neither retorted. He glanced at Hiei, who was doing a good job of keeping his customary apathetic expression; Yusuke thought that Hiei was actually pretty concerned about their friends. Kurama and Kuwabara had always gotten along very well before this.

Finally, Kuwabara broke the silence between them. "You're not being fair," he said, narrowing his eyes at Kurama.

"I will not base my decisions solely on your conscience," Kurama snapped, his face stubborn and proud. "If I decide to go, you can't stop me."

"Go where?" Yusuke asked, trying to interject himself between them. Kurama glared at him, but Kuwabara turned to him, seeming somewhat relieved by his presence.

"He thinks he's going to take on Kuro by himself," Kuwabara said, jabbing his thumb at Kurama, who growled.

"I said that if no one else was going to fight, I would fight alone," he corrected, stepping closer to them.

"That's stupid," Yusuke said immediately, to the fervent agreement of Kuwabara. "Why don't we all go fight him together?"

"Yusuke, none of us would survive that. Do you really want to leave your life behind?" he asked, looking Yusuke directly in the eyes. Yusuke flinched back from his gaze, but held his ground.

"You're telling me that you'd be willing to leave Shiori to fend for herself?"

"That is not what I said," Kurama said, his expression very much implying that that was exactly what he was saying. "There is no reason for all of us to die. I could easily dispatch Kuro by myself."

"But you'll have to sacrifice yourself to do it," Yusuke said knowingly. Kurama gave him a look of annoyance, but Yusuke wasn't going to be diverted. "You're really trying to pull this shit again?"

Kuwabara, who was somewhat out of the loop, said, "We know Kuro's weakness. If we can get rid of that stupid necklace, then any of us could take him." This important comment went mostly ignored in light of Kurama's determination to get himself killed.

"Yusuke, he's willing to throw his life away," Hiei said, giving Kurama a scathing glare. "He's afraid that we won't be able to beat Kuro."

"I thought you knew me better," Kurama said, glaring at Hiei now. "I'm taking the simplest course of action."

"No, you're taking the stupidest," Yusuke said, anger swelling up inside of him. Kurama really knew how to push his buttons. "There's no reason why any of us should go alone. You're deluding yourself."

"Really, the necklace is all we need to get rid of and then we'll be able to beat him easy!" Kuwabara shouted, once again to general ignorance.

"Kurama, I can't believe you. Why should—?"

"Because I am expendable," Kurama snapped, turning back to Yusuke. "None of the rest of you are."

"HEY!" Kuwabara screamed, finding that it was so hard to be the collected one. "IF YOU GUYS GET TIRED OF DECIDING WHO IS GOING TO DIE, I GOT SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!"

They finally looked at him; he had never been so relieved to see their eyes on his face. "Koenma is researching it right now, but Iza said that Kuro was wearing a necklace, right? We think that his necklace is generating his power. Without it, he'd be about as strong as Toguro at the most."

Yusuke, instead of enjoying this information, turned back on Kurama. "You _knew _that and you still want to go rushing off to fight him on your own? Talk about selfish!"

"You wanted the glory all to yourself, did you?" Hiei asked, turning away from his friends as though he couldn't bear to look at them.

"I was thinking of you," Kurama said, raising his voice almost to a yell. "There's no reason—"

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Kuwabara yelled, stomping his feet. Hiei glared, Yusuke folded his arms, and Kurama returned his gaze to the floor, this time in defeat. "Are you kidding me? We have a super-powerful enemy to fight and all you guys want to do is argue with each other? When did you all get so dumb?"

There was silence for a long time. Then, Yusuke chuckled and cracked a grin. "He's right. And when Kuwabara is the voice of reason, you _know _we're losing it." Kurama and Hiei exhaled together, some of the tension leaving the room with it. They looked around at each other, and Yusuke didn't think he'd ever loved anyone so much as he loved the other three here with him at that moment. The circle closed; with a little push, a closed circle can become a wheel that spins indefinitely.

"The necklace," Kurama said softly. "It was some sort of purple gem?"

Kuwabara nodded, looking over to the redhead. "Yeah. Koenma's researching it now."

Though his heart jumped at that name—he was still furious with Koenma—Kurama nodded. "I haven't heard of it, but something will turn up. Do we have any more information?"

Yusuke and Kuwabara shook their heads, but Hiei nodded. "I found where he's staying," he said, sliding his hands into his pockets once more. It was a comforting gesture, and it relaxed the group as well as (perhaps better than) his information did. "There is an abandoned farm not far from here," Hiei said. "He's nocturnal, and he's been sleeping there during the day."

The silence fell again. After a minute, Yusuke turned to Kuwabara. "So, are we going to do it, then?" Kuwabara nodded and looked to Kurama.

"I still think it would be more effective for me to—"

"Yeah, yeah," Kuwabara said, waving his hand. "But this isn't all about you."

Kurama took the chiding with some grace, and they looked to Hiei for his confirmation. He looked between them, sullen. "I'm sick of waiting around to kill the bastard," he said, and that settled it.

The silence fell once more, and Yusuke thought that only one more thing needed to be said before they could turn to the most important matters, but unfortunately, he wouldn't be the one to say it. It was a long time before Kurama said, "Someone send for Botan."

Botan came, although it was nearly five in the afternoon before she did. By then they had moved their council to Kuwabara's house, which was empty as Shizuru was with friends and their parents were still working. Kuwabara's room was slightly messy, but they found their seats amongst the dirty laundry and magazines and discussed tactics while waiting to hear from their favorite grim reaper. When the sun was nearing the edge of the horizon, Botan appeared, holding a small manila file in her arms. "Sorry it took so long," she said, in her chipper British tones. "Koenma wanted to gather as much information as possible, and it took longer than he thought it would."

"So what are we dealing with here?" Yusuke asked, leaning forward in the desk chair that he'd occupied. Botan set down the file on Kuwabara's desk, opened it, and pulled out the first sheet.

"This is a sort of summary," she said, wiggling the paper in her hands without reading much of it; Yusuke had the sneaking suspicion that she had already memorized the contents. "We _think _that Kuro's necklace is something called the Stone of Amaterasu. It is not well known as being an object of power because it's been in the human world for hundreds of years, and humans have no idea of its worth or powers." She handed off the paper to Kurama, who took it stiffly. He skimmed the document briefly before handing it to Kuwabara.

Yusuke, who wasn't about to study for a spirit case turned to Botan. "Give me the layman version."

"We're not sure how the Stone was created," she said, rifling through a few more of the papers in the file. "As far as the history goes, we first learned of the Stone when it entered the human world in the hands of a Catholic priest living in Europe in the early 20th century. When he died, the Stone was left in his home until someone stole it."

"Whoever sold his house," Kurama guessed, and Botan nodded.

"It was a British man who found the necklace and gave it to his wife. It took some digging, but we managed to find her death certificate." Botan pulled out an old, wrinkled document written in English. "She died of cardiac arrest while wearing the stone."

"And I'm guessing she wasn't the only one," Yusuke said.

"You're right—she wasn't. The undertaker stole the Stone of Amaterasu from her corpse before she was buried and gave it to _his _wife, who also died of cardiac arrest. She was buried with the necklace in late 1979." Botan pulled some glossy photographs out of her file; shots of the necklace, both on and off a victim's neck. "We're not sure what happened after that, although we believe that grave robbers were involved. The Stone made its way across Europe, killing many women and a few men as it went. We picked back up on its trail when someone sold it to an elderly woman here in Japan. She died wearing it—"

"Another heart attack?" Kurama asked.

"No, this was a brain embolism. Wearing the Stone usually results in heart attacks, but sometimes the cause of death varies. Anyway, the woman willed the necklace to her granddaughter, who didn't die while wearing the necklace."

"How do you know?" Kuwabara asked, folding his arms against his chest.

Botan pulled out yet another sheet of paper. "We know because she was Kuro's first victim."

After a moment of stunned silence, Yusuke said, "Botan, why didn't Koenma do something about this Stone? He knew that it was killing people!"

"Yusuke, he hadn't put all the pieces together yet. Besides, he only knew that it was a cursed necklace; there was nothing to suggest that the Stone would give demons great power. Koenma _does _know that it emits an aura making it irresistible to humans and demons alike. He said that Kuro probably felt the aura when he entered the human world, found the necklace, and killed his first victim after obtaining it."

"So," Yusuke said, "we have to get rid of the Stone before we can beat this bastard."

"Probably," Botan said, shrugging. "Hopefully it won't be much more complicated than that. I caution you all to take care with the Stone; we don't know if it will affect everyone like it has Kuro, or if it might kill any of you."

"I guess that puts wearing it out of the question," Yusuke grinned. Botan did not grin back. After agreeing to leave the file there with them (Kurama, at least, wanted a deeper look at it) she left to return to her duties in Spirit World.

"So Hiei, you know where Kuro stays?" Yusuke asked, turning to the shorter demon, who stood by Kuwabara's window looking out into the city.

Hiei nodded, and Kurama spoke up. "If he is nocturnal, then our best chance to beat him would be early morning, when he is preparing to sleep. He will most likely be active and roaming the streets at night."

Yusuke rubbed his chin, leaning back in his chair. The ceiling of Kuwabara's room was plain white and had a few boring cracks in it. "Something's been bothering me about that," he said. "If he is so powerful and can do whatever he wants to at night, why is he only feeding once a month? Why does he send pictures to Spirit World, and why does he attack during the day?"

In response, Kurama shifted through some of the papers in the file. Most of them pertained directly to the Stone, but a few were also about the case they were working. "I believe that he sends the photos of his victims to taunt Spirit World, which would indicate a lack of concern for being identified," Kurama said, pulling one document out of the stack. "Almost all of his victims were home alone when he attacked, which means that he probably wants to spend time alone with them; he would be able to tell who was home by sensing their auras."

"But still, he could be doing so much more damage. Why is he limiting himself?"

They sat in thought, at a loss. Eventually, Kuwabara said, "Maybe the necklace is too powerful for him. I bet it kills humans by flooding them with energy, and it's too much for him all at once. He probably spends the rest of the month resting."

"Yes, and I'm sure that the amount of homeless and drifters in this and the surrounding cities has gone down as well," Kurama noted. "He probably feeds off of weaker prey during the rest of the month."

"So what are we saying here?" Yusuke asked, looking around. Kuwabara looked back blankly, while Kurama let his hair hide his gaze and Hiei refused to meet Yusuke's eyes. "Tomorrow morning?"

After what seemed like a long time, Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah. Tomorrow."

They looked to Kurama, who looked away. "Tomorrow." All three turned their gazes to Hiei, who looked back at them disgustedly.

"Must I spell it out? The day he dies is the day I finally get a break from you fools." Riding on the heels of their laughter, night began to fall.

They woke before the sun, Kurama bringing Yusuke and Kuwabara out of their dreams. For the sake of simplicity they had slept at Kuwabara's house; no one minded since his parents went to bed early and Shizuru didn't come home until late. They had slept in his room, and after shaking the other two boys awake, Kurama stepped out onto the balcony, where Hiei was enjoying the fresh air. "Are you going to visit Yukina?" Kurama asked, looking out at the sleeping city. It was just before five in the morning; they needed to get moving quickly if they were going to catch Kuro at the right time—although, waking him from sleep seemed like a good idea as well.

"Are you going to visit Shiori?" Hiei countered, and Kurama let the subject drop. They watched the city in silence for several moments. For Kurama, it was a rare moment where he didn't really know what to say to Hiei. He was quite sure that, even knowing the secret to Kuro's power, he would not be beaten easily or without losses. It was very likely that one or neither of them would return. After minutes of struggling to find the right thing to say, Kurama realized that he didn't need to say anything at all. That silence was telling enough. When they entered Kuwabara's room again, the other boys were struggling awake and pulling on their clothes. Yusuke was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt while Kuwabara put on his customary blue uniform. Seeing them wearing their usual garb made the reality of their impending deaths fall on Kurama's shoulders. The authorities would find two boys in plainclothes (maybe three, even four) in an abandoned farm. Cause of death: blood loss, if they were lucky.

"Hey," Yusuke said, straightening and looking at Kurama in the harsh light of Kuwabara's bedroom; there was no daylight yet. "Stop looking at me like you'll never see me again."

"Yeah, isn't there a saying about darkness in dawn?" Kuwabara asked, which got Yusuke chuckling. Kurama managed a faint, sickly smile. _It is darkest before the dawn . . . and death is just the next great adventure. _Those were idioms worth forgetting in a hurry. They quietly exited the house and began walking, working the kinks and soreness out of their muscles. Hiei gave brief directions to the farm to Kurama, who knew the general vicinity of it. As they walked, the silence of the city overwhelmed them and their conversation died. The sky was deep blue, stars beginning to fade from the visible spectrum. The sun was nearing the eastern horizon, the light getting progressively brighter.

They followed a main road east out of town, deciding to go on foot rather than wait around for the buses to begin running. They could have taken a train, but no one had money for that, and anyway the walk gave them time to think. The city began to thin to small neighborhoods, then a small suburb, and then only the odd house. They walked out of civilization and into the wilderness of agriculture and farms. When the houses ended the sidewalk did as well, and they were forced to walk on the side of the road, more or less in a single-file line. When they reached a small winding road heading south Hiei began walking down it, and the others followed. Growing crops now surrounded them on both sides; this time of year the harvest was sparse, but Kurama thought he recognized some of the plants. It was not common to see so much agriculture in Japan; only in certain areas was there still countryside. He was too nervous to enjoy it. By now, the sun was casting their long shadows to the west, stretching them out and making them look somewhat creepy. The sun was peeping over the horizon, not fully risen, but getting there, and streaking the sky pink and light blue.

They had to walk another half mile before Hiei stopped at the end of a gravel road heading east. They stood in a line, looking at the house that streaky orange light framed. It was large for a farmhouse, one story, with a peaked rooftop and walls built of dark wood. Trees of some sort grew behind it in dense rows, but they were overgrown and messy. The house itself looked dark and empty; some of the windows in the front were broken, and some were boarded off. "It's my dream home," Yusuke cracked, to generally weak smiles. They could sense Kuro's intense energy in the house, but it was toned down and—there was no other way to say it—_dusty_. They looked at the house for a few more minutes before Yusuke stepped forward.

He had spent almost the entire previous day wrapped up in his own trouble; he had ignored the fact that not only was he protector of the human world, but he was the leader of his team. It was not a role that he relished, but it was one that he accepted all the same. "Let's go," he said, and began walking up the driveway. He did not turn to see whether they followed, but their footsteps rewarded him after a few moments. They walked, spread in a gentle V pattern with Yusuke at the tip, heading into the farmhouse on that empty road. They walked into the shadow of the house as the sun neared halfway up the horizon, and paused on the threshold, looking up at the building. Yusuke turned slightly, watching Kurama out of the corners of his eyes. "What are our chances, fox-boy?"

Kurama weighed them honestly, glancing at the dark windows of the fortress before them. It was a typical human home, but the cool darkness and closed face of it made it seem much more intimidating. "Better than we thought before," Kurama finally admitted. "Kuro is weak throughout the month and sleepier during the day. We know his weakness, and we have the element of surprise."

"Sounds like a piece of cake," Kuwabara grinned. Kurama glanced at him, smiling faintly.

"Remember that we're invading his territory. Invaders rarely walk away unscathed." There was no response; in the face of such a challenge, no one could think of anything to say. Instead, they started forward. The walk was weedy and old, foxtails brushing against their ankles as they headed forward. Kuwabara sensed the demon within, his power giving the human slight shivers. He trailed behind Yusuke, heading for the front door and wondering if there wasn't a better way to go in. The energy that Kuro was giving off was muffled, probably because he was sleeping, but he thought it wouldn't take much to wake the demon up.

Yusuke slid the door open with one shaking hand, trying to mask his nervousness with a jaunty shake of his shoulders. Despite the sun beating down on the east side of the house, it was cool inside, and a mildewy, wet smell met him. He wrinkled his nose against it, looking around the room. It was dark due to heavy blinds covering the windows, which were all east facing. He thought that if humans had lived here, it would have been beautiful in the morning light. Kuro's decorations were ominous and telling. The main room was empty and dark, so Yusuke moved forward into it, the others stepping in with him.

They spread out, fanning the first doors they came to. Like police officers, they checked for a presence in any of the rooms that they came across, and acknowledged the desertion of them to each other. After a few minutes there was one room not checked—a bedroom in the back of the farmhouse. Yusuke walked there in front, followed by his teammates. The smells of dust and dirt were heavier here, and the air was cool and damp. With the darkness and those smells, Yusuke was reminded of some cave in another world, and was happy (if only passingly) that this was one fight that they'd have on his soil. The door at the end of the hall was cracked, but no light shone from behind it. He slid it aside with a soft push, the door slamming against the rack at the end. He squinted as there was even less light here, and his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Kuwabara exhaled softly, but the other two were silent in their observations of the room.

Kuro was sleeping in the center of the empty room. It was covered floor to ceiling with moldy and old draperies. Some were attached at the ceiling and fell to the floor, undisturbed; others were wrapped around Kuro in a grotesque cocoon. Kuwabara saw patches of fungi growing on some old, lacy curtains and edged away from them slowly. Kuro was swathed like an infant, suspended from the ceiling and softly turning around in his sling as though surveying the room. When he turned to face them again Yusuke felt a stab of fear—and a sense that he had been here before, even though he knew he hadn't. Kuro's eyes were thankfully closed, and he appeared to be deep in sleep, but there was something disturbing about the way he hung there like a hibernating insect. Yusuke looked back over his shoulder, trying to decide what to do. Kurama's eyes were surveying Kuro sternly; Yusuke realized that he hadn't even looked for the Stone. He looked back, sure that Kuro would be awake and would slaughter them in his doorway in seconds. He'd be sitting up, at least, eyes flashing in their direction, and they would try to run, would try to get away—

Kuro was still sleeping. Yusuke couldn't see the Stone, but he seriously doubted that it would be anywhere else. If it was him with the ancient artifact, he'd never let it out of his sight. It was probably hanging around Kuro's neck, covered by the fabrics that held him gently aloft. That meant that they couldn't hope to separate Kuro from the Stone without waking him, which meant that they'd need to get it off him carefully and quickly once they'd woken him up. Without consulting the others, embracing his role as leader, Yusuke lifted his arms and did something very stupid. He fired his spirit gun at Kuro.

Kurama yelled a warning, but the gun blast silenced it. A hand clapped down on his shoulder just as the shot was hurtling forward, and the person grabbed him backward. "Run!" Hiei shouted, though Kuwabara was the one grabbing Yusuke's shoulder. They barreled out of the house, running straight down the hall and out the door; Hiei was first and didn't bother opening it—he merely shot through and let the door break aside. In hindsight, Yusuke thought, he probably knew that the door wouldn't be standing much longer anyway. None of them saw whether Yusuke's shot hit its target, but they immediately knew what damage it had done when, just as they crossed the threshold and exited the old house, it collapsed in a flurry of dust and wood splinters. The side of the house where Kuro had been sleeping went first, and then the rest with its support compromised. They stood in a line watching where Kuro's bedroom had stood. The dust was reflecting sunlight and making it hard to see anything moving beyond it. Slowly, though, Yusuke registered something moving in the debris.

Kuro stood, a slim and tall profile amongst the wood and dirt. Singed fabric covered him; as he stood up it began to slide off his body in thin ropes, revealing his naked flesh beneath. He bent, hair falling around his head, and pulled his kimono around his shoulders. As he did so, Kurama thought he saw a glint of sunlight winking back at him from Kuro's collarbone. Then Kuro was turning to face them fully, his dirty and dusty kimono swirling around him. Coming out of the fallen house, he looked like a particularly dangerous war veteran.

"Speed is the most imperative factor," Kurama said through the side of his mouth, staring Kuro down as he did so. "Keep moving, and don't sacrifice your pace for anything short of impenetrable cover." After short grunts of confirmation, he and Hiei did their disappearing act; they began to move so fast over the land that had belonged to the farm that they were nearly invisible, even to Yusuke and Kuwabara who often trained with them in this state. Yusuke and Kuwabara themselves fanned out, steering clear of the rubble so that they didn't compromise their footing. Kuro looked around, a small grin growing on his face. This caused a lump of fear to grow in Yusuke's throat, but he thought that Kuro was less impressive here. He had less power in the day, in their world. He was on the defensive.

Izanami left Spirit World just after sunrise. Botan guided her past the river Styx and out into the human world again, but left her in Japan without taking her directly where she needed to go. That was fine with Iza; she would use the extra time to think. She propelled herself forward, reaching out with her hands as she flew over the cityscape and out to the east. Koenma had given her a little direction as to where Yusuke was, and she thought that he wouldn't be hard to find once she got within range. She would just look for exploding buildings and people running from chaotic scenes of violence. It took longer than she liked before she was flying through countryside, eyes scanning back and forth for some telltale sign of battle. When a plume of smoke appeared on the horizon, she headed that way, praying that she was not too late.

She arrived just as Hiei landed the first good hit on Kuro. He was weaving through the area with impressive speed, and when Iza blinked (curious; why would a ghost need to blink?), she missed his movement. As Yusuke dodged a swipe of Kuro's claws, Hiei darted forward and sliced into Kuro's upper arm. The cut was not deep, but it drew blood—blood black and thick like tar—which gave Iza some hope. Perhaps they had not worked out a decent plan for this confrontation, but at least they were not dying in front of her eyes as they had before. She watched, keeping her distance though nothing could harm her in this form. After a few minutes of her presence Kuwabara turned, searching the sky for her. Humans, especially not outside of Spirit World, couldn't see her but Kuwabara had grown familiar with her presence and knew that she was benevolent—rooting for them, even. He returned to the fray with a simple nod.

Iza began to understand the rhythms of the fight as she watched. Yusuke liked to get up in Kuro's face and deliver quick, strong blows to his body there (when he wasn't using his Spirit Gun from a safe distance.) Kuwabara was slower than the others were, but his Spirit Sword would do considerable damage if he could get close enough to Kuro to hit him. Hiei was their main line in assault; he was fast enough to avoid most of Kuro's attacks, and just quick enough to get an occasional attack in. Kurama was playing it safe on the sidelines, trying to cultivate some weapons that could be of use and finding that most of them were out of the question; he'd probably hit Yusuke or Kuwabara before he hit Kuro.

They were taking damage, she realized with a jolt. None of them were out of commission yet, but she didn't think it would take much. Kuwabara and Yusuke were already showing signs of exhaustion, and Hiei had been wounded on one side of his torso. He moved as though it wasn't inhibiting him, but Iza thought that it probably hurt a lot. As she was contemplating this, Kuro took a full swing at Yusuke and hit. The boy was sent flying from them, skidding over dirt and grass before coming to a rest in the road. "Yusuke," Iza called, hating the echoic, distant quality of her voice and knowing he could not hear her. She swooped down, hoping that a corpse would not confront her when she did. To her surprise, Yusuke stood up before she could reach him and went back to the fight. _Humans_, Iza thought with a smile. _So resilient._

The battle continued, with Iza hovering overhead. Not long into it, Kuwabara began to pant. His Spirit Sword was sapping his energy, but he didn't dare put it away; it was his only defense. He ran at Kuro again, dodging his teammates and the attacks that the demon was throwing; his feet cut through dewy grass and jumped over any obstructions. He panted, his lungs inflating with dim pain, and held his sword down by his hip, its bright orange energy heating his thigh. It occurred to him that they could—probably _would_—go on this way for the next few hours, or days, or months and never get any farther. Their attacks were weak and their defenses worse still. He had to get that necklace, or one of them would die. Bracing himself, feeling his blood pumping strongly through his body, he ran forward again. He did not dance away when Kuro turned to him, black hair swinging in the breeze. The eyes fixed on him, singled him out, and in that second of understanding he remembered everything that he had forgotten; everything that Koenma had taken away from him. Then it was over, and he was at the devil's door.

Kuwabara slashed down with every bit of energy in his body, cutting as hard as he could and not feeling the slightest bit of resistance against his sword. It sliced cleanly, and he thought that he had killed Kuro or missed. Slightly confused, Kuwabara turned, and the claws bit into his side just above his kidney. Blood spurted from his lips, coppery and thick in the mid-morning air. He stumbled, holding his back where more blood was trying to flow from. It hurt—God, did it hurt. He could only take a few more steps on trembling feet before he collapsed into the dirt, breath hitching in painfully. Kuro held his shoulder and looked at the human triumphantly. His sword had sliced through muscle and bone into Kuro's left shoulder, threatening to split that arm from his body. He pulled his arm close with his right hand, realizing for the first time that he was not invulnerable, necklace or no. He stepped forward, intent on killing this foolish human, this tool of false hope, but before he could do more than lift one foot off the ground, his air supply was rudely and abruptly cut off. Kuro reached his hands to his throat, scratching his own flesh in an attempt to breathe.

Whatever was around his neck was biting painfully in, and it cut his hands to ribbons as they tried to remove it from him. Kurama jerked on his rose whip, attempting to pull of Kuro's head, but the demon had caught onto the trick by now. As Yusuke ran forward, trying to pull Kuwabara out of the fray, Kuro grasped the rose whip with bloody fingers and pulled Kurama toward him. Kurama let go of the whip and it slowly transformed back into its beautiful, mostly harmless original form. Then, when the rose whip disappeared from around his neck, Kuro heard the sound that had haunted him in every dream he'd had since coming to this wretched plane of existence. It was the _plink _of a hard stone hitting the floor. He looked down, his right hand automatically slapping to his neck, searching for the warm Stone that had hung there for months. Even as his hand searched his bare neck, he saw the Stone rolling away from him, its power trickling behind it in a tempting, mocking glow. He screamed and dove, knowing that without it he was weak; he was as good as dead.

Iza saw the necklace's chain break when the rose whip latched around Kuro's neck; saw the Stone pressed against Kuro's flesh by the whip's grip, and saw it fall when the whip disappeared. She streaked forward, knowing in her heart that she could not touch it and that she would not make any sort of barrier against Kuro when he went for it, but acting anyway on impulse. She dove, ghostly body reaching for that Stone as though her entire afterlife depended on it. Despite her hopes, Iza fully expected to feel nothing but a slight tingle as her fingertips passed through the Stone and into the ground below it. What she did not expect was exactly what happened; her fingers gripped the warm jewel and pulled it off the ground just as Kuro's scrabbling hands grabbed for it.

Iza stood, feet touching the ground—and that was what convinced her that she really had picked up that priceless jewel. She could _feel_.

She held the Stone in her right hand, and looked down at Kuro as he stared up at her in surprise. Iza realized with a gasp that Kuro could see her, and glanced down at the Stone in her hand. When she did, it exploded, and the white, viscous essence that had been hiding in it—the power—burst from the fragile shell. It enveloped her, and the spirit detectives stood by, watching with awe as the warmth flooded back into her body, starting with the tips of her fingers and toes and ending with her core. Iza opened her mouth and breathed in air.

"I'm alive," she said, and from their expressions knew that they'd heard her. She could feel her heartbeat. She dropped the shell of power she had held and pressed both hands to her heart, feeling its strength. For a moment, the world was silent. Then, Kuro screamed in rage as he realized that his ace-in-the-hole was gone. He leapt up, fully intent on ripping Iza to shreds, Stone or no Stone. Yusuke, who tackled him to the ground, stopped him. Yusuke knelt over the demon, punching him again and again and relishing the feel of finally being able to punish this bastard. When he rolled aside, fists throbbing, Hiei finished it by impaling the demon with his sword. Kuro died slowly, before they could get him to a Spirit World prison.

Kuwabara was gasping lightly and ripping grass out of the ground when they crowded around him. His back wound was gushing blood, and Kurama bent and put pressure on it, despite the cries of pain that Kuwabara sounded through clenched teeth. "He needs the hospital," Kurama informed Yusuke, who agreed to find the nearest phone. He turned and ran, faster than ever before.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that they were allowed in. Shizuru and the Kuwabara patriarch had gotten to go in much earlier, about which Yusuke was resentful. The idea of sitting in a waiting room for several hours didn't appeal to anyone, so it was no wonder that he felt that way (or that Hiei had disappeared early on.) But when they were finally allowed to visit, just as visiting hours were drawing to a close, Hiei returned and Yusuke put on a happy face. Kuwabara was heavily bandaged, but he could have been much worse, so no one complained. Iza waited outside for the four of them to reunite, and tried not to listen to the arguments and slightly teary shouts that came from the other side of the door. After a few minutes, Kurama poked his head into the hall and told her that she was welcome inside.

Late sun was pouring through the window, lighting their faces. Most of them were smiling; Hiei, of course, was the general exception. Even Kuwabara looked cheery, though he had little to be happy about. _Well, he has his life_, Iza thought, and returned their smiles. _And so do I._

"Thank you," Kuwabara said softly, his eyes falling on her face. She quirked an eyebrow, silently asking for clarification. "Without you, we'd probably all be dead."

"I just followed my instincts," she said, glancing away. The expression of gratitude on his face was too potent to start at for long. "Are you doing all right?"

"The doctors say he'll be confined to the hospital for a week," Kurama informed her, "but there shouldn't be much lasting damage."

"What did you say happened?" Iza asked, facing Yusuke. He shrugged, grinning.

"I said that Kuwabara picked a fight with the wrong kitten."

There was laughter then, and a few tears snuck their way out of Iza's eyes. She brushed them away absently, looking to the window. "Thank you for saving me, and all those other girls," she said. "Did anyone know what the Stone would do if a ghost touched it?"

They shook their heads. "The most we knew was that it was an artifact of immense power," Kurama said. "None of us had guessed that it would restore a spirit to its body."

"And here I thought whoever made it was evil," Yusuke said, and the others silently agreed.

"Well, at least we're all here," Iza said, after some time had passed. Kuwabara cracked a smile.

"Yeah. And we know what to do next time we lose."

"Like that's ever gonna happen again," Yusuke snorted. He turned to Iza, his face turning serious. "What are you going to do now that you're alive again?"

Iza's eyes drifted to the window; to the city that lay behind the walls of this room. "I can't go home; everyone I knew thinks I'm dead. Nothing I do can change that without causing Koenma serious problems."

"You could travel," Yusuke suggested. "You know, go see the world, and all that."

Iza faced him, smiling, ignoring the tears that came to her eyes as she fixed them all with her strongest gaze. "I don't think so. I've seen the best the world has to offer—right here by my side."

"Chicks are so cheesy," Yusuke laughed, and that was all they said about that; for they were young, and there was much more life to be lived.

_terminus_


End file.
